Sleeping minister burgled in hotel room

WATER and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane’s handbag was stolen by thieves who broke into her room at a posh Mthatha hotel while she was sleeping.

The incident took place at the Mthatha Garden Court alongside Nelson Mandela Drive opposite the Walter Sisulu University University.

The minister was alerted to the burglary after security guards noticed an open window in her room around 1am, said her spokesman Mlimandlela Ndamase.

“She was alerted to the burglary after the guards knocked on her door,” he said.

Her cellphones and other personal items were in the handbag.

Mokonyane had delivered a memorial lecture on the ANC’s longest serving president Oliver Reginald Tambo at the WSU on Friday and attended the wedding of Chief Sibonelo Mkhize in Qokolweni village outside Mthatha on Saturday.

The incident came just hours after South Africans awoke to the news on Saturday of a break-in at the offices of the chief justice in which about 15 computers containing personal information of judges was taken.

Asked if the burglary in Mokonyane’s room had been an isolated crime incident or if she had been targeted, Ndamase declined to speculate.

“Crime is a reality in South Africa and is one of the things that the ANC government is trying to address. This shows that crime knows no colour or creed. We shouldn’t separate it [the burglary from general crime]. We just don’t know.”

He said they had handed over all information to the police, who would be better able to say whether it was a random act of crime.

Mthatha police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela confirmed the incident but was unable to say how the thieves had gained entry into the minister’s room. He said a case of housebreaking and theft would be opened.

Hotel manager Andrew Ngwenya promised to forward a written statement regarding the matter to the Dispatch but it had not been received at the time of writing.—